Nursing and Midwifery Council to be held to account says Badenoch

The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) treatment of nurses who hold sex‑based beliefs has come under renewed political fire, with frontline Christian nurse Jennifer Melle emerging as a key example of what critics describe as regulatory overreach, after Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Badenoch, denounced the continued investigations into staff who, she said, had merely affirmed “the basic truth of biological sex.”

Following a private meeting in Parliament this week, Badenoch issued a sharp rebuke of the NMC’s treatment of Ms Melle and the Darlington nurses, who have both been supported by the Christian Legal Centre, describing them as dedicated professionals who had been subjected to a “state-sponsored witch-hunt”.

Jennifer Melle has twice been reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as an alleged “risk to the public”, first for declining to use the preferred gender identity of a paedophile patient, and later for speaking publicly about her experience. This was despite the fact that she herself was subjected to repeated racial abuse by the patient.

In January, the NHS abruptly abandoned a disciplinary case against her for speaking out, which seemed certain to end in her dismissal, following a cross‑party petition from Shadow Equalities Minister, Claire Coutinho, and significant media pressure.

However, during a parliamentary meeting in February, when Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson was urged to intervene to ensure the NMC investigations were dropped, Jennifer was told that the NMC is not accountable to government ministers, and that nothing could be done to halt the proceedings.

Badenoch has subsequently warned this week that unless decisive action is taken, more healthcare workers will face similar ordeals for expressing mainstream views about sex and gender.

Badenoch said a future Conservative government would make it “explicit in law and guidance that biological sex matters in healthcare,” pledging to protect single-sex spaces and ensure that regulators focus on professional standards rather than “ideological enforcement.”

She added that clinicians must not be driven from their jobs for believing in biological reality, warning that political hesitation on these issues leaves both staff and patients at risk.

The meeting followed a parliamentary roundtable attended by Jennifer Melle, Darlington nurses Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Annice Grundy, and Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre.

Sixteen MPs and peers, including Iain Duncan Smith and Rosie Duffield, heard impassioned speeches outlining the pressures nurses face when they decline to use compelled pronouns or take a stand to uphold single-sex protections.

‘The situation is unsustainable’

Following the meeting, Jennifer said:

“Meeting with Kemi Badenoch was encouraging as the Government needs to finally listen to what nurses on the ground are facing. No nurse should ever be forced to use compelled pronouns or punished for holding respectful, lawful beliefs about sex and gender. Yet I have been reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council simply for staying true to my conscience.

This situation is unsustainable. We urgently need clear national action to protect nurses from ideological pressure in the workplace. No healthcare professional should fear losing their career for declining to use preferred gender identity terms. What has happened to me must not happen to anyone else.”

Badenoch says ‘you should not lose your livelihood for believing in biology’

Following her meeting with the nurses, Ms Badenoch reaffirmed her stance that a Conservative government would strengthen legal protections for biological sex in healthcare and single‑sex spaces.

The Conservative leader said:

“These women are not activists or agitators, they are hard-working professionals who care deeply about their patients and take pride in doing their jobs properly.

Yet, for holding firm on the basic truth of biological sex, they have been the victims of a state-sponsored witch-hunt. I am relieved they are now back at work, but the fact they are still under investigation by the NMC is a disgrace.

If this kind of nonsense is allowed to stand, it won’t be long until there’s another Jennifer Melle. More good nurses will be dragged through the same ordeal for stating simple facts. More professionals silenced for doing their job properly.

A Conservative government will make it explicit in law and guidance that biological sex matters in healthcare, full stop. We will protect single-sex spaces for staff and patients. We will ensure regulators, like the NMC, focus on professional standards, not ideological enforcement. And we will back clinicians who speak the truth, not hound them out of their jobs for it.

You should not lose your livelihood for believing in biology. And patients should never be put at risk because politicians are too weak to confront a fashionable lie.”

‘A troubling new frontier’

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said Jennifer’s experience was indicative of a wider national issue:

“Jennifer Melle’s case exposes a troubling new frontier in how hardworking public sector professionals are being disciplined by unaccountable regulators simply for recognising biological sex.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is not alone. This reflects a wider pattern across regulatory bodies affecting people like Jennifer. No nurse should face disciplinary action for refusing to use pronouns that contradict biological reality or for being compelled to speak against their conscience. This is not a fringe issue; it goes to the heart of faith for many people, professional integrity, personal conscience, and the freedom to speak truthfully without fear.

Following our meeting with Kemi Badenoch, we are calling on the Government to hold the Nursing and Midwifery Council to account and ensure that regulators do not punish nurses for holding lawful, mainstream beliefs. There must now be an urgent overhaul of policy so that what has happened to Jennifer is never repeated. Compassion and professionalism must not be redefined in a way that forces healthcare workers to deny their faith or convictions, submit to compelled speech on pronouns, or risk losing their licence to practise.”

A growing national dispute

The meeting came almost one year after the Supreme Court ruled that, for the purposes of the Equality Act, the definition of “woman” in law means “biological woman.” Despite this, updated guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has not yet been published.

Delays in Government approval of the EHRC code of practice have left NHS trusts applying inconsistent policies, including allowing male‑born individuals who identify as women into female‑only spaces. Nurses at the roundtable warned that this has left both patients and staff “fearful and potentially at risk.”

The Darlington nurses present at the roundtable previously won an employment tribunal after their trust allowed a male staff member identifying as a woman to use the female staff changing room, including undressing in front of female colleagues, one of whom was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.

Four of the nurses also have NMC investigations pending after speaking to the media about what their experiences of being forced under an NHS policy to share a female staff changing room with a man.